Events

Join us for our annual Evening of Honors, at which we will be presenting the Ernest R. McDowell Award for Excellence in Public Relations. The award, which recognizes an individual for sustained excellence in the field of public relations – both in the profession itself and the community-at-large – was established in memory of Ernest R. McDowell, the late senior vice president of Marketing and Corporate Relations for Capital Health System, now UPMC Pinnacle Health System. This long-standing tradition began in 1991 and has continued every year since.

The Pennsylvania Public Relations Society (PPRS) is proud to announce this year’s recipient of the Ernest R. McDowell Award for Excellence in Public Relations: Sean Connolly, APR, founder and public relations advisor of Connolly Communications. Sean is a 25-year veteran of public relations and a former newspaper reporter. Serving as press secretary for two state attorneys general and former senior director of communications at Bravo Group, Sean has a successful track record and experience in managing strategic communications planning, media relations and crisis communications. He also serves as a PR bootcamp instructor for the Public Relations Society of America, training seasoned PR pros across the country seeking APR accreditation.

In addition to honoring Sean and his accomplishments, we will also announce the winner of the Robert M. Fisher Membership Recruitment Award and induct the new officers for PPRS for 2022.

This event will be virtual. If you are interested in speaking during the event to make remarks in celebration of our winner, please email Kristin Kellum at kkellum@duckdonuts.com to let her know you’d like to say a few words about Sean’s accomplishments.

Registration for this event is now closed.